Over the past couple of months, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing an impressive group of New York City based entrepreneurs realizing their vision in a variety of fields. Below is the first half of a list that covers everything from non-profit organizations to internet start-ups. Stay tuned for part two!
Gauri Manglik
CEO and Co-founder of Fondu, a food review site that lets users share their opinions about restaurants with friends in their social circles. Since launching earlier this year, the site has been slowly gaining users around the world. Over the summer, Apple presented them at WWDC as an example of a first-class on-boarding process.
Alex Torrenegra
Serial entrepreneur and founder of Torrenegra Labs, a suite of online marketplaces and companies concentrating on the online booking and voiceover spaces. His most recent company, VoiceBunny, which utilizes crowdsourcing to find voice talent, just came out of beta.
Becky Straw
Co-founder of The Adventure Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals in developing countries find work on life-sustaining projects. The group was recently nominated as a finalist for “Best New Charity” of the Year for the Stay Classy Awards.
Balazs Alexa
Co-founder of Date My School, an innovative dating service for college students and alumni. The company recently closed a new round of investments and moved their office to Industry City, in Brooklyn, where they have apparently become ping pong experts.
David McCoy
Co-founder and Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Community Development (GACD), a non-profit organization that works in Ghana to improve basic health and education facilities. GACD celebrates its two year anniversary in October.
Nikki Robinson
CEO and founder of Gloss and Glam, an international, luxury, on-location hair and makeup company featuring a team of celebrity stylists and make-up artists. Nikki recently launched a new company blog and joined the YEC.
Viraj Puri
CEO and Co-founder of Gotham Greens, the first commercial scale hydroponic rooftop farm in the country, located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Gotham Greens is a model of sustainability and produces some of the best lettuce and herbs in the entire New York City.
Jay Shek
CEO of Centzy, a search engine offering detailed info and pricing on local businesses such as nail salons and dry cleaners in over 2000 US cities. In the three months since they launched, their traffic has grown by over 600%.
Deborah Oster Pannell is a writer who specializes in the arts, culture, special events and creative projects of all kinds. As Director of Communications for the tech start-up eventwist, she also manages their blog. Some of her favorite work is featured on modernlifeblogs.com, lizkingevents.com, and her own blog, shesaysyes.wordpress.com. Currently she is launching Project Mavens, a literary, editorial design collective, with partner & writer Lillian Ann Slugocki.
